Worm-drive for railway-car trucks.



W. H. BUCKINGHAM & H. S. JOHNSON.

WORM DRIVE FOR RAILWAY CAR TRIICKS. APPLICATION FILED Auc.21.1s|s.

Patented m. 13,1917.

WITNESS INVENTORS 0% 11 U? W {h g 8W" ATTORNEYS UNITED STATESPATENTOFFICE.

\I'WI'IIIJIAM H. BUCK'INGHAM, OF MOUNT 'IAMALPIAS, AND HAROLD S."J'OHNSON, OF MILL VALLEY, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNORS TO HERCULES MOTOR PATENTSINC.., 01' SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, A CORYOBA TION OF CALIFORNIA.

WORM-DRIVE FOB RAILWAY-CAB ravens.

Application filed August 21, 1916. Serial N 0. 116,014.

To alliv hom it may concern:

'Be it known that we,-lVILI.1AM H. BUCK- INGRAM and IIARULD S. JoHNsoN,citizens,

ofthe United States,-residing at Mount Tama'lplas and Mill Valley,respectively, in the .eou'nty of Marin and State of California,

haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in W orm-Drives forRailway Car Trucks, ofwhich the following is a' specification.

The present invention relates to improvements ll'ltlllCkS for railwaycars, and more particularly to a type of :ill'llch for use in connectionwith self-propelled railway ca rs, and where it-ls desirable, employs aninternal combustion engine or other motor, ;mounted on the car frame asthe source of power and to drive the truck wheels;

The principal object'of the invention is to provide a simple, efficientand direct worm drive 7 for, the vehicle truck supporting wheels, andby. the employment of which,

thedrive chains and beveled gears'now in pse," are dispensed with. Toprovide a structure wherein a worm drive is employed for transmittingpower to, the truck. wheels, one which iscomparatively noiseless in itsoperation, and where the upkeep is reduced to a minimum.

\Vith the above mentioned and other ob-" jects in view, the inventionconsists in the novel constructlon and combination of parts hereinafterdescribed, illustrated in the aeconq'mnying drawings and set forth inthe" elaims hereto appended; it being understood that various changes inthe form, proportion, size and minor details of construction,

within the scope of the claims may be resorted to without departing'fromthe s irit o'r sacrificing any of the advantages 0 the invention.

To more fully comprehend the invention, reference is directed to theaccompanying drawings, wherein- Figure 1 is a view in side elevation ofa self propelled railway car with an emhodi-' ment of our amproveddevice illustrated in connection therewith.

Fig. 2 is a central sectional view, longi tudinally of the car.

Fig.3 is an enlarged'detail plan view of the preferred form ofdrive,*several parts thereof, being broken away to more fully illustratetle interior mechanism of the drive.

Referring more particularly to the several views of the drawing whereinlike charac- I Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Feb. 13,1917 Uters of refrrence designate correspondingv parts, 1 indicates a suitablecar frame supported at its front end in any suitable man: nor, as by thepivotally mounted pilot truck 2, having 1: il running wheels 3, and saidframe adapted to carry a propelling motor r, prc ferably of the internalcombustion engine 1ype.

Mounted d-jacent the opposite end of a;

frame 1 from the truck 2, arethe pedestals 5 of any suitrbleconstruction and the same are arranged in pairs opposite each other tosite ends to the respective housings 11,,

through the vertical pivots 13, prevents the housings from rotating withthe axles and wheels, and \t the same time permits of an inde n-ndenthorizontal swinging movement of each axle 7 within' the limits permittedby the pedeitals. Suitable bearings 14 reduce friction between the sidesof the gears 10- and the' n-spective housings 11.

IA worm inion lfi'is mounted to rotate on a horionoal axis 111 bearings16 in the.

upper portion of each housing '11, and one of'said worn pinionsintermeshes with each of said worm gears 10 to drive the same. The rearenc of the worm pinion '15 of the forward axle, and the forward. end ofthe worm pinion 15 of the rear axle, are interconnected through theuniversal joints 17 with a shaft [8 which drive the same in nnison. Theuniversal joints. 17 are positioned one in verthal alineirient with eachof the pivots 13 of 1 he torsion rod to permit the in- ,dependentswinging of the axles.

The forward end of the worm pinion 15,

associated w th the front axle, is connected with the en gine 4 throughth universal joints 17 by a driveshaft 1,9. 0 compensate for themovement of the axles relatively.

to the frame 1 due to the resiliency of the supporting springs'notshown, a sleeve joint 21 18 provided in the drive shaft 19, and ifnecessary a sleeve joint 22 may be mounted in the shaft 18. Itwill beapparent that We have provided a worm drive for railway carswhich issimple in construction and silent in' its operation, and may be attachedwith little expense to car-wheel axles as now constructediproviding afour wheel 'drive for railway cars carrying their own source of power.

Having thus described our invention, what we. claim is; 4 .A,drivingtruck for railway cars comprising a frame, a pair-of oppositely disposedpedestals mounted thereon, a pair of solid axles provided with railrunning wheels and a worm driving gear carried by said axles, a housinginclosing each of said worm driving ears, a torsion rod pivotallyconnecting sai housings, a worm driving pinion rotatably mounted in'eachof said housings and cooperating with the respective worm 'gear therein,and a shaft connecting said worm driving pinions, whereby the same willbe caused to rotate in unison.

2. A driving truck for railway cars'comprising a frame a provided withrail running wheels and a worm-driving gear carried b said axles, a

housing inclosing each of sai 'worm driving pair of oppositely disposedpedestals mounted thereon, solid axles gears, means for preventing therotation of the housing .with their respective axles, a worm drivingpinion rotatably mounted in each of said housings for cooperating withthe respective worm gear therein, and a shaft connectlng said wormdriving pmions whereby the same will operate in uni-- son.

3. A driving truck for railway cars comprising a frame, a source ofpower carried thereby, a pair of oppositely disposed pedestals mountedthereon, solid axles provided with rail runnin wheels and a worm drivlnggear carried y each axle, a housing 1nclosing each of said worm drivinggears, a

torsion rod for pivotally connecting each of said housings to preventthe rotation thereof, a worm driving pinion rotatably mounted in each ofsaid housings for cooperating with the respective worm gear therein, av

shaft connecting said worm pinions to cause the same to rotate inunison, and a connection from said source of power, -and one of saidworm drivingpinions. g

In testimony whereof wehave signed our names to this specification inthe of a subscribing witness.

WILLIAM .H. BUCKINGHAM. HAROLD S. JOHNSON. Witness: I I

- D. -B. 'RIC.IIARDS.

presence v

